One in five single parents claim that they had their benefit payments stopped in the last 10 years

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One in seven of all single parents looking for work over the last decade have had their income interrupted due to benefit sanctions.The analysis made by the charity Gingerbread used data from the Department for Work and Pensions, the Independent writes.

The analysis found that found that over 209,000 single parents are claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance had had their benefit payments stopped in the last 10 years. Many of them were referred for sanctions more than once with nearly 436,000 referrals in total.

The Department’s monthly rate used to estimate the impact on single parents is 6%, but Gingerbread charity says the real, more reflective figure is probably double that.

“All the evidence suggests that a system that is supposed to help people out of poverty all too often unfairly strips away vital financial support from those who need it most. Unfair sanctions put families under severe strain and waste government resources.